One alter ego's way of trying to get a grip

Facts about Finland

I live in Finland and I think it’s the best place to live in the whole wide world. 🙂 To educate my fellow humans around the world, with a little help from Wikipedia and my own knowledge, I’ve gathered some facts about my home country.

Flag of Finland

Fact #1: Finland used to be part of Sweden (from the 12th century to 19th century) and Finland was an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian empire. Because we used to be part of Sweden, we still have two official languages, Finnish and Swedish.

Fact #2: Finland declared independence on December 6th 1917.

Fact #3: There are no polar bears nor penguins in Finland. But there are bears, wolves, wolverines and elks among bunch of other animals. Whooper swan and the brown bear are the national bird and national animal of Finland.

The Brown Bear and the Whooper Swan

Fact #4: Finland has a President, who is re-elected every 6 years. One president can be re-elected just once.

Fact #5:Finland has beautiful nature much due to the 187,888 lakes and the 179,584 islands. Finnish people have the privilege to enjoy the magnificence of all four seasons, which makes the diversity in nature extremely rich. My favorite seasons are spring and autumn. For me, the Finnish summer is too short and the winter too long, but I do love the nature in every season.

Finnish nature during summer

Fact #6: Finland has great rock- and heavy-metal bands. Hanoi Rocks, HIM, Stratovarius and Nightwish are probably the most famous ones. Make sure to check them out! Finnish hard rock band Lordi is famous for winning the 2006 Eurovision song contest with a then record 292 points, becoming the first Finnish performer to win the contest.

Fact #7: Finland has a great education and schooling system with no tuition fees and free meals served to full-time students. Free education ensures that everybody in Finland, rich and poor, has the same possibilities to succeed. In Finland everybody starts their school careers with the same qualifications.

Finnish winter scene

Fact #8: Finland has a population of about 5.4 million people. Most of the people live in southern Finland.

Fact #9: In northern Finland, called Lapland, if you’re lucky, you are able to see amazing light show phenomenon in the sky called Aurora borealis.

Fact #10: Santa Claus lives in Lapland in Finland.

Here are my facts about Finland. Please, leave a comment and tell me something about your home-country or home-town.